Display case

ABSTRACT

A display case includes a base on which is mounted a back wall. The back wall has openable doors for access to the interior of the case. Side walls are also mounted on the base. A front wall is mounted on the base. The front wall slants rearwardly and downwardly from its upper portion to provide foot and leg room for a customer standing in front of the case. A top is fastened to the upper edges of the back wall, side walls, and front wall to enclose the interior of the display case. Preferably, the front wall, top, and side walls of the display case are transparent. The interior of the display case may contain a variety of shelf configurations.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to display cases, and more particularly,to display cases utilized in retail locations having limited accessspace.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the advent of street side and in-store beverage and food serving,floor space is of premium value. It is desirable to display goods andserve customers with a maximum of display area in a display case forgoods and beverages while not encroaching substantially upon adjoiningspaces and yet allowing customers to closely approach the serving andviewing area represented by the case. Display cases currently availableon the market are not designed to fulfill these needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention therefor provides a novel display case having abase and a back wall mounted on the base. The back wall has openabledoors therein for access to the interior of the case. Side walls aremounted on the base and extend upwardly therefrom. A front wall is alsomounted on the base. The front wall in accordance with the presentinvention slants rearwardly and downwardly from its upper portion toprovide foot and leg room for a customer standing in front of the case.The case also has a top fastened to the upper edges of the back wall,the side walls and the front wall to thereby enclose the interior of thecase. In a preferred embodiment, the base has front, rear and side wallsthat extend downwardly from and in coplanar relationship with the frontand side walls of the case. Also in another preferred embodiment, theside walls of the case are slanted downwardly and inwardly from theirupper edges to provide foot and leg room for customers standing adjacentthe edges of the case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the display case looking from the frontand slightly above and to the left thereof;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the rear of the display case;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the display case;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the left side of the display case;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the right side of the display case; and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the front of the display case similar toFIG. 1, including a pair of mirrored panels on each side of the interiorshelves to separate the end compartments from the central refrigeratedcompartment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the display case of the present invention has abase 20 and an upper compartment 22. The base 20 in top view isgenerally rectangular in configuration. Similarly, the upper compartment22 in plan view is rectangular in configuration. The upper compartment22 is outlined by a frame including right corner stanchion 24, leftcorner stanchion 26, rear stanchion 28, and right rear stanchion 30. Theupper ends of the stanchions 24-30 are joined by a rectangular frame 32having a front frame member 34, a rear frame member 36, and side members38 and 40. A longitudinal frame member 42 extends between side framemembers 38 and 40 in parallel relationship with the front and rear framemembers 34 and 36. The frame member 42 is positioned laterally part waybetween frame members 34 and 36. Resting on top of the frame member 42and extending laterally between frame members 34 and 36 are lateralsupport members 44, 46, 48 and 50.

In its preferred form, a transparent front panel 60 is positioned in theregion between the upper frame member 34, the vertical stanchions 24 and26, and the upper edge of the base 20. In a preferred embodiment, theupper frame member 34 is longer than the upper forward edge of the base20 so that the transparent front panel 26 is trapezoidally shaped. Theside frame members 38 and 40 are longer than the upper side edges of thebase 20. Also, the rear frame member 36 is of equal length with theupper front frame member 34, thus forming a rectangle with the otherupper frame members 34, 38 and 40. The rear edges of side frame members38 and 40 preferably reside in a vertical plane extending upwardly fromthe rear of the base 20. The forward edges of the frame members 38 and40 extend forwardly beyond the base. Thus, the front panel 60 extendsfrom the top frame member 34 downwardly and rearwardly as it extendstoward the upper edge of the base 20. Preferably, the front surface 70of the base carries the slope of the front panel downwardly andrearwardly in substantially coplanar relationship to the floor in whichthe base rests. Thus, in side view, the entire front of the display caseextends downwardly and rearwardly.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the left side panel 74 of the case enclosesthe left portion of the case between the upper frame member 34, frontvertical frame member 26, and the upper edge 64 of the base 20. In theside view of FIG. 4, the rear edge of the side panel 74 lies in avertical plane while the front edge is coincident with the plane of thefront panel 60. In front view, however, the side panel 74 slantsdownwardly and inwardly toward the upper edge 64 of the base. Similarlyin the preferred embodiment, the left side 72 of the base 20 extendsdownwardly and inwardly in a substantially coplanar relationship withthe side panel 74. The left side panel is preferably transparent.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, the right side panel 76 of the case isformed in a mirror image to panel 74, yet again extends downwardly andinwardly from the upper frame member 40 toward the upper edge 66 of thebase 20. Similarly, the right side surface 78 of the base 20 extendsdownwardly and inwardly continuing the slope of the panel 76 insubstantially coplanar relationship.

Referring again to FIGS. 1-5, the upper portion of the display case iscovered preferably by a transparent rectangular top panel 80. Thetransparent top panel 80 rests on the lateral frame members 44, 46, 48,and 50 and is coextensive with the periphery of the upper frame formedby frame members 34, 36, 38, and 40. Referring to FIG. 2, the rear 82 ofthe display case resides in a generally vertical plane. The uppercompartment 22 sits on the lower compartment 20. Two central panels 84and 86 of the rear wall of the case 82 are mounted for side-to-sidesliding movement on rails (not shown) mounted in the upper frame member36 and the upper rear edge 68 of the base 20. These panels 84 and 86 canslide sidewardly in opposite directions in front of side panels 88 and90, respectively, to provide an opening to access the interior of thecompartment 22.

Referring back to FIG. 1, vertical frame members 92 and 94 arepositioned on opposing sides of the door 84 and 86 in the interior ofthe compartment. Similar vertical frame members 96 and 98 are positionedoutwardly from the vertical frame members 92 and 94. Four parallel framemembers 102, 104, 106, and 108 extend upwardly from the upper surface ofthe base member 20 in parallel relationship, respectively, with thevertical frame members 92, 94, 96 and 98. The upper ends of each ofthese vertical frame members couple with the lateral frame members 44,46, 48, and 50 along the upper portion of the display compartment toform rectangular frame members. In the embodiment shown, a first set ofshelf brackets 110 extend laterally and horizontally between verticalframe members 96 and 102, 92 and 104, 94 and 106, and 98 and 108,respectively. These shelf brackets support a shelf 112. A second set ofshelf brackets 114 are positioned above the first set of shelf bracketsto support a second shelf 116. The front edges of both shelves 114 and116 terminate short of the front panel 60 so as to allow space for coldair circulation from the refrigeration system. The shelves 112 and 116are preferably transparent.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, a refrigeration system 120 (shown indashed outline) is mounted in the interior of the base 30. Therefrigeration system 120 is of standard design and includes a standardair movement system 122. The air movement system is coupled by a conduit124 to a vent 126. The vent is formed in a plenum 128 that is positionedbelow the shelves 114. The vent 126 is positioned in the forward portionof the plenum 128 adjacent the bottom of the front panel 60. Thus, airmoved through the vent 126 by the air moving system 122 can circulatethroughout the interior of the upper compartment 22.

Finally, display lamps 130, 132, and 134 are positioned below the framemembers 44, 46, 48, and 50 above the shelf 116. The lights 132 and 134are mounted to the shelf brackets 114 and 112, respectively. Eachilluminates the region below each one of the lamps. The lamps areoriented longitudinally in the central portion of the compartments 22.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an alternate embodiment of the invention isshown. In this embodiment, vertical panels 140 and 142 are mounted toextend laterally from the back panel 82 to the front panel 60. Thevertical panel 140 extends up to the lateral frame member 44 on the leftside of the display case and completely separates the left-handcompartment 146 from the central compartment 148. Similarly, thevertical panel 142 separates the central compartment 148 from the rightend compartment 150. In this embodiment, only the central compartment isrefrigerated, while the side compartments form permanent displays forother wares. The compartments 146 and 150 are accessed by removing aportion of the rear panel 82 adjacent the left and right edges.Alternatively, the left and right ends of the panel 82 may comprisesliding doors mounted on track positioned in the rear rail or framemember 36.

Thus, the display cabinet of the present invention provide means forserving customers from behind the display case and allowing thecustomers to stand immediately in front of the case touching the frontframe member 34 with their body, yet allowing adequate room for legs andfeet without hitting the base 20. This space is provided by therearwardly and downwardly sloping front panel 60 and the downwardlysloping front surface of the base 20. Similar space is provided at theends of the display case by the downwardly and inwardly sloping sides 74and 76.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, it will be appreciated that various changes can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.For example, all transparent surfaces are preferably made from temperedglass. Other transparent materials such as plastic may be used as well.All structural members are preferably made from aluminum; however, otherstructural materials such as wood or stainless steel may also be used.

1. A display case, comprising: a base; a back wall mounted on the base;side walls mounted on the base; and a front wall mounted on the base,said front wall sloping rearwardly and downwardly from its upper portionto provide foot and leg room for a customer standing in front of thecase; and a top fastened to the upper edges of the back wall, side wallsand front wall thereby enclosing the interior of the case.
 2. The caseof claim 1, wherein said top and said front walls are transparent. 3.The case of claim 1, further comprising: at least one shelf mounted inthe interior of the case.
 4. The case of claim 3 wherein said shelf istransparent.
 5. The case of claim 4, wherein said side walls aretransparent.
 6. The case of claim 1, wherein said side walls slantinwardly and downwardly from their upper portions.
 7. The case of claim6, wherein the base has front and side surfaces, said front and sidesurfaces extending downwardly and inwardly in coplanar relationshiprespectively with said front and side walls of said case.
 8. The case ofclaim 7, wherein said side walls, said front wall and said top aretransparent.
 9. The case of claim 1, further comprising: a refrigerationunit mounted in the base, said refrigeration unit having an air deliverysystem associated therewith for delivering cooled air to the interior ofsaid case.
 10. The case of claim 9, wherein said base has an uppersurface forming the floor of the interior of the case, said floor havinga grill therein for communicating with the air delivery unit of therefrigeration unit for circulating cooled air to the interior of thecase.
 11. The case of claim 10, wherein said grill is located along theforward edge of the upper surface of the base adjacent to the front wallof the case.
 12. The case of claim 1, further comprising: first andsecond vertical walls located interior of said case, said vertical wallsextending downwardly from the upper wall of the case and from the frontwall to the rear wall of the case, said first and second vertical wallsdividing said case into first and second end compartments and a centralcompartment.
 13. The case of claim 12, further comprising at least oneshelf mounted in the central compartment of the case, said shelf locatedin said central compartment and extending between said vertical walls.14. The case of claim 12, wherein only said central compartment isrefrigerated.
 15. The case of claim 12, wherein said shelf extends fromthe rear wall of said central compartment only part way toward the frontwall of said case leaving a gap between the forward edge of said shelfand the front wall of said case.
 16. The case of claim 1, wherein saidback wall has openable doors therein.